Boards.ie PW Intercontinental Champion Tournament

colmufc

razor and hbk

Blue_Dabadee

HBK and Razor

thebostoncrab

God this is a tough one!


Gotta go....I don't know! My mind keeps changing on this, so even in five minutes Id be tempted to come back and edit my vote!

Kurt and HBK at this moment!

WinnyThePoo

Ramon & HBK

Hashtag_HEEL

Angle and HBK

ShagNastii

Razor just scrapes by Kurt Angle who definitely got a significant amount of stream once he got going. The WM 10 guys goes through with HBK making light work of Owen Hart. Just drew the quarterfinals and HBK match-up is quite ironic.

Final 8
Razor Ramon, Bret Hart, Edge, Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Jeff Jarrett, Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels.

A good spread of eras old and new. Now we’re down to the nitty gritty we’ll make it first to six but you need to add a reason for your vote to count. Whether it be two lines or a two page essay. Game on- probably pick of the round to kick us off. A career long feud which started with a fantastic quarrel over the IC belt.

HBK
"Back When He Was Breaking Hearts"



VS



Bret Hart
"The Best There Is, Was and Ever Will Be"

Ken Shamrock

HBK for me. Personally i don't/never liked Bret Hart but i'm trying to be as nice as i can! Bret for me was just bland. Even in ring, there was no charisma or innovation. The fact he had the intercontinental belt seemed irrelevant.

HBK is the greatest wrestler of all time IMO and his 3 runs with the inter belt were all quite relevant and important to his success, as mentioned the ladder match with Razor was history making but it's just the confidence the belt used to give him that made it special for me, he was one of those guys that made the belt rather then the belt making him (Bret)

Moneymaker

Yikes.

This belt made both guys but Bret was the first guy who really made this title mean something and many of his greatest matches were for the IC title, so he gets my vote.

Hashtag_HEEL

Bret Hart
He brought so much prestige to the title and has had some of the best matches in the titles history.

Ape Lincoln

Shawn was a good heel champiom at a time when business utterly sank, the matches were great and all and he had some decent matches with others but vote goes to Bret as I think his big IC title matches in 1991-1992 hold-up better than Shawn's. (Bret also outdrew Shawn's entire run with that Wembley stadium match!)

Edit: Bret was also a better wrestler straight out of his tag-team than Shawn, he had been ready for a good while before getting the belt. Shawn grew into it.

Omackeral

This could easily be worthy the final, and that goes for the WWF title also. These two lads had careers that paralleled each other and were always intertwined. You were either a Bret guy or a Shawn guy. They both transitioned seamlessly to the upper echelon also. I was usually a Bret guy but at IC level I think Shawn was more interesting, so for that reason I am voting for Shawn Michaels

ShagNastii

I have to vote HBK. Outside his matches with Mr.Perfect and Piper at Wrestlemania 8 (easily in my top 10)Edit: Aaaaannd Summerslam 92. I can’t really remember Bret with the title. When I think Bret as champ it’s him with the winged eagle.

HBK on the other hand jumps right out in memory. The douchebag HBK gimmick made Michaels a true superstar. Him being a cocky Heel in the Heartbreak Hotel with The IC title on his shoulder and big Diesel as his heavy was just the full set needed to send the Shawn Micheals plane into the stratosphere.

gerrybbadd

Ah jays - how are you supposed to pick a winner here?

It's Bret for me. I love both guys, my 2 favourites of all time, but Bret pips it for me. Brought serious prestige to the title, and had some amazing matches along the way with the likes of Perfect and the Bulldog.

My decision hinged on the fact that HBK relinquished the title due to being a prick at the time though, so this is what edged it for me

Ape Lincoln

ShagNastii wrote: »

The douchebag HBK gimmick made Michaels a true superstar. Him being a cocky Heel in the Heartbreak Hotel with The IC title on his shoulder and big Diesel as his heavy was just the full set needed to send the Shawn Micheals plane into the stratosphere.

Just on a minor point of pedantry, Shawn was never the IC champion when he did the Heartbreak Hotel promos. They started shortly after Wrestlemania 10 and when he won the IC belt again in 1995 from Jarrett he was babyface and didn't do the Hotel skits.

Loughc

Bret Hart

He had more blockbuster matches when he was Champion and in some cases he elevated the IC title over the usual Main Eventers.

Necro

HBK. The ladder match with Razor at WM10 kinda redefined what could be done within the squared circle. It also put him well underway to becoming the first ever Grand Slam Champion

Kankan14

Bret for me. Aside from being my fav wrestler. He epitomised what being IC was all about back in the day. His singles run after leaving Neidhart took off with his first IC reign. I can think of so many good matches with Davey Boy, Perfect et al.
Its really kickstarted him on the road to greatness.

EDIT: to say iirc. Bret faced shawn at Survivor Series 92 in a champ v champ match bret was world champ Hbk IC champ. bret made him tap if im not gone insane that seals it for me.

ShagNastii

Bret beats Shawn in a very entertaining bout. So much history between these guys and both were super IC champs maybe at the height of it allure. Bret into the semis. Up next we have another pair who jousted for the title IRL.

Edge

“We Thought We Knew Him”




VS



Jeff Jarrett
"Slapnut n Country Singer"

First to six and your reason for voting.

Garseys

I have to go with Shawn. He marginally won it for me. I thought his reign as IC Champ exceeded Brets and I thought he had more standout matches. (e.g. his matches against Razor)

EDIT: Gonna go with Jarrett. I adored his run as IC Champ during the Attitude Era. Very overlooked at the time and brought a lot to the table.

I associate Edge more with his WWE title run and while he is the better of the 2 overall in respect to the IC belt. It's Jarrett all the way.

gerrybbadd

Edge. Again, the more prestigious champ. Didn't Jeff lose it to Chyna after holding Vince up for money?

Lost all respect for the Gimp of the Mountain after that

Ken Shamrock

Edge, similar to HBK and bret, edge just had more charisma and style, even tho he didnt do much mic work back then he just oozed charisma in the ring, a 6'4 guy doing spinning heel kicks,missile dropkicks etc was something to behold, i like jeff and i liked his runs all 6 or 7 of them but he became kind of boring for me, especially in the ring.

Ape Lincoln

gerrybbadd wrote: »

Edge. Again, the more prestigious champ. Didn't Jeff lose it to Chyna after holding Vince up for money?

Lost all respect for the Gimp of the Mountain after that

Afaik, Vince had renaged on a deal and then in October 1999 Jarrett was working without a contract. He demanded the money he felt he was owed. Chyna then squashed him in a "Good Housekeeping" match with household items.


Gonna vote Edge as I prefer him overall to Jarrett and while he didn't have the most notable of reigns he had some good matches with Chrstian in 2001. By 2002 though he was having really good midcard matches even without the IC belt (around the time it lost its prestige imo)

Bounty Hunter

Double J

I dont think I was ever as big a fan of Edge as others which is why I think Edge will go through anyway but IC champ Jarrett seemed to me like someone destined for better things, not in the WWE though it would seem.

ShagNastii

I’m surprised Edge is getting such support. Loved Edge when he was with E&C and when we was the Heelish Rated R Superstar. Most of his face runs as a singles superstar were fairly lame. Now you could argue Double J was super-lame but I was of a time and played up to the hilt.

I vote Double J. Like with many he was an IC title (and nothing nore) kinda of guy.

Kankan14

JJ because his title run was very memorable in a period where wwf were at their peak.

Sin Eater

Jeff Jarrett, I think his run with the title was more meaningful and a bit more entertaining than Edge's.

thebostoncrab

Double J WAS the IC title in the late 90s. He always comes straight into my mind when ever I think of that belt and his reign deserves to be looked upon more favourably with people.

ricero

double J gets my vote here i just have better memories of his reign then edge

ShagNastii

The country Singer Jeff Jarrett (("That's J-E-Double-F, J-A-Double-R, E-Double-T!")[ overcomes WWE HOFer Edge and makes it through to the semi-final. The next one I will call the co-main event because the last quarterfinal will be one of the bouts of the tournament Razor V Randy.

Cody Rhodes
”Model Issues





VS



Chris Jericho
"So many Y2J incarnations, so many Title Reigns"

Moneymaker

Ah jaysus.

Jericho. I love Cody and he's probably the best IC champ of the last 5 years or so but Jericho is the record holder and he had some incredible matches for the title.